Burnt Books and Broken Mirrors
by Fantasie in D Minor
Summary: Draco was, most certainly, not particularly pleased about accepting aid from Hermione. She, for her part, was displeased about having to give it. Another Hogwarts’ secret, however, fated the events to play out in exactly such a manner.


**Burnt Books and Broken Mirrors **

**Disclaimer: **I do not own the Harry Potter series…only the elaborate descriptions and plethora of complicated sentences XD

**Introduction: **This story takes place in 6th year, but does not fit into the plot. It will, indeed, be Hermione/Draco, just so you won't be surprised when you find out that that's the way it's heading XD I do not, however, promise a lot of romance.

**Summary: **Draco was, most certainly, not particularly pleased about accepting aid from Hermione. She, for her part, was displeased about having to give it. Another Hogwarts' secret, however, fated the events to play out in exactly such a manner.

**Disregard **

Rules, regulations, and conventions were all rather foreign terms to one Draco Malfoy. Consequently, rather often did he find himself wondering the deserted halls of dark Hogwarts past curfew with no feelings of guilt, which would commonly accompany such outward disregard for the established guidelines in any other individual. Perhaps not the most sensible pastime, admittedly, but certainly aided with the desire to be left alone for more than a few minutes at a time. One could only imagine how the disgusting and superficial display of affection from one Pansy Parkinson could affect one's sanity. Draco, however, had the tremendous _pleasure_ of not only imagining such anguish, but rather suffering through it almost every day.

And so, as was the custom, Draco found his feet languidly carrying him through the dimly-lit halls on one particular Friday evening. In fact, he could recollect himself thinking that the date, October 13th, was rather cliché for such a dark night, but disregarded the thought and went through with his habitual wonderings nonetheless. Perhaps, in hindsight, this wasn't a particularly bright decision, but Draco was not one for Divination, and the belief in omens resided as far away from his logic as was possible.

At first, he did not pay attention to the rhythmic fall of quite footsteps following his own lethargic ones. In fact, the blond did not hear them. As the journey towards the Slytherin common room progressed, however, the subtle noise became more prominent. The increase in volume escalated to such a level that it was becoming increasingly difficult to ignore. With a frustrated sigh at being, perhaps, spotted by the prefects, Draco turned towards the noise with a snarl replacing the straight line of his lips. Certainly, such an encounter is never a pleasant one.

The Slytherin did not find anyone behind him immediately, however. His gray eyes scanned the darkness, as an increasing narrow to them could easily be observed.

"Who's there?" He finally asked irritated. This joke was lost on him. In the magical world, considering all the different species of creatures that could possibly be attracted to the dark, and the likely possibility of encounters with such creatures ending up lethal, such mocking was overrated and not as entertaining as one would be led to believe. "I demand that you show yourself." Draco's cold voice rang through the wide hallway, as one of his pale hands latched itself onto the black, wooden wand in the blond's pocket.

And yet, there was no response. The eerie silence settled itself over the darkened strip of the grandeurs castle, leaving Draco with an unsettling feeling of anxiety. He did not dare move; his immobile posture rigid. The blond strained his ears, slightly leaning forward to catch any hint of a sound. He did not hear anything, however, except the nervous sound of his own jagged breathing.

Perhaps he was imagining things? Draco never considered himself insane, but such a possibility was certainly no out of the question, as Granger would have one believe. The Slytherin rolled his eyes heavenwards. Trust his reeling thoughts to fly to Granger's spiteful comments at such a moment.

He shook his head and shrugged lightly. It seems he _was, _in fact, hallucinating. Draco turned in the direction he was initially headed and started his walking once again, albeit much faster. That's when he heard them again: the footsteps. The blond froze…and they did as well.

Draco turned sharply, but once again was met with complete darkness. Cursing at his lack of luck that evening, the blond took out his wand and mumbled a quite "Lumos," scanning the surroundings with a feeling of dread pulling at his stomach. When he came up empty, the feeling, paradoxically, only worsened.

"I am not amused." The Slytherin proclaimed, masking his anxiety with irritation.

Apparently, the perpetrator was thinking along the same lines, for when the words left Draco's lips a dark silhouette could be viewed stepping out of the darker reaches of the hall. At least, the blond _hoped _the figure was stepping out, because it almost looked like the form simply appeared.

"Zabini?" Draco took a guess. Wasn't Zabini on prefect duty that evening? The young man would certainly be a better alternative to Granger, who Draco knew was patrolling the hallways that night. "Lurking in the shadows now, are we?" The blond continued with a smirk settling over his features when the figure did not deny the identity placed upon it. "I can't exactly give you points for originality."

Draco took a few steps towards the outline, lowering his wand as not to hurt the other's eyes with the bright light. The stream of light fell onto the floor, vividly illumination the shoes on Zabini's feet. Or rather…what _should _have been shoes on Zabini's feet. Barring the fact that there were no shoes to speak of, the form's feet were a sickly shade of blue. '_Alike to a corpse.' _The blonde noted.

Now that Draco thought on the matter, he could not recall his friend being so tall either. The silhouette in front of the blond seemed to be much larger…and leaner. In fact, as Draco slowly started trailing his wand hand upward to illuminate the rest of the individual in front of him, the fact that the figure was mostly flesh and bones became much more prominent…not mentioning the fact that the aforementioned flesh was the said sickly shade of blue all throughout.

Draco's mild repulsion changed rather drastically when the light reached the figure's face. Black, lifeless eyes stared back, and a sick smile distorted the barely visible, dark purple lips.

The Slytherin took an involuntary step back…then another…and another. Soon, Draco found himself running with a speed he did not realize he possessed through the hall and towards the closest place he could find sanctuary in…which happened to be the Library.

The footsteps, to the blonde's horror, started up once again and did not cease their pursuit until Draco was able to close the heavy doors of his so-called sanctuary. The Malfoy heir was not at all as susceptible to fear as one might be led to believe. His frenzied run was a simple impulse, a compulsion he simply could not control.

"Malfoy? What are you doing here past curfew?" The blonde turned sharply to find a very much pissed off Granger standing in the middle of the deserted room, with her arms folded over her chest and a glare present in her eyes already.

For a few moments, Draco contemplated whether the thing outside was a better fate than this, but wrote it off when his attention was drawn to the halting footsteps outside the Library doors.

**Author's Note: **I hope you've enjoyed this first chapter…and I hope it was at least somewhat frightening XD Pardon the shortness of it, I simply wanted to throw it out there to see your reactions to it. The following chapters will be much longer; I promise. Please R&R, and tell me what you think. I have a full outline of this story, so you can be assured that it will completed. I shall be obliged if you give me your opinions! Thanks.


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